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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26111926">For just a moment</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/limey_limey/pseuds/limey_limey'>limey_limey</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Learning to live [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adam has entered the building, F/F, Time Travel Shenanigans, wrong Hordak is called Kadroh here</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:00:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,173</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26111926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/limey_limey/pseuds/limey_limey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A small boy appears on Darla under unusual circumstances.  Why does he have a sword that looks like Adora's?  Who is he to Catra and Adora?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Learning to live [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>She-Ra</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For just a moment</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Idly, hands carded though shaggy brown hair, enjoying the feeling of the strands sifting through her fingers.  Sitting with her back propped against one of the walls surrounding Brightmoon’s gardens, slightly obscured by flowers and bushes, Adora tilted her head to look up at the rainbow sky that still lingered months after the end of the war.  Involuntarily she let out a hum of pleasure, everything was exactly as she had hoped and better than she had ever imagined.  The faint sound  caught the attention of the figure sprawled out beside her, head on her lap.</p><p>Mismatched eyes opened slowly and fixed onto the blond’s face, one hand raising to cup her cheek and pull her chin down so that their gazes could meet.   Catra ran the pads of her fingers along her love’s jaw and smiled her pointiest smile.  She loved this woman so much, and one of the things that she loved the most is that she could still be herself.  Sure, she still had a lot of work to do with filing down her rougher edges.  It wasn’t always easy, but she was getting there.  But with Adora it wasn’t hard to calm the anger that still always lingered at the periphery of her mind, to be calmer and softer.  Not soft, never that, but softer, gentler - more like they had been when they were young but now more carefree and with more care for each other.</p><p>“Whatcha thinking about so hard that I can hear it?”</p><p>Grey eyes crinkled with a smile as Adora leaned down and planted a soft kiss on smiling lips, “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”</p><p>“So that was the wind whistling through your ears?”  It was delivered with a cheeky laugh and got her a poke in the ribs in response. </p><p>“No,” she exhaled on a happy sigh, “just taking it all in and letting myself enjoy,” a hand waved expansively, “this.  You.”</p><p>Catra couldn’t resist that face and surged up from her lap to capture her lips in a heartfelt kiss which ended with Adora breathlessly laughing as her back hit the ground, Catra crouched over her in a familiar position. As the two young women came together a loud screeching sound pierced the tranquility of their hiding spot.  Flinging themselves apart, a clawed hand snatched up the tracker pad that they kept with them when they disappeared.</p><p>“Shit!”</p><p>“What?” Catra offered up the pad as she got to her feet and pulled Adora along with her.</p><p>“Something’s wrong with Darla!”</p><p>Together they sprinted towards where the first ones ship was kept on the other side of the castle, Melog hot on their heels from where it had been lounging on the lawn.  They didn’t stop moving until they got to the looming black spacecraft, almost colliding with Glimmer and Bow as they materialised close to the open ramp.</p><p>Rushing up the ramp into the ship, the Best Friend Squad sped towards Darla’s bridge.  The rushed and barely coherent communication from Entrapta had launched all four of them in a frantic dash to the spacecraft, desperate to ensure their friends safety.  What they found when they reached the room was nothing that they could have anticipated.</p><p>Standing in the centre of the room was a bear of a man.  He was easily seven feet tall and rippled with muscles upon muscles.  Bronze and ripping, he wore an obscenely scant amount of clothes, consisting only of knee length kaki coloured shorts and a combat harness across his chest.  However, that wasn’t’t what had the blue haired scientist hugging the wall and trembling or the former clones circling the stranger; that was the sword.  In his hands he swung a sword back and forth with agitated gestures, lunging uncertainly if anyone got too close.  </p><p>As soon as the new arrivals rushed into the room the sword swung in their direction and shook.  The young man’s arms quivered and his eyes looked around wildly, projecting fear and confusion in equal measure.  At least there seemed to be no anger or threat emanating from him, if they should calm him down this might not have to end in a fight.  A sword fight no less.</p><p>The sword he clutched was long and broad, shining silver under the lights from the first ones ship.  The technological writing along the flat catching the light and almost seeming to spark.  With the exception of the blue rune-stone that sat in the pommel of She-ra’s own sword, this sword was identical to the Sword of Protection. Who was this man?</p><p>Realising that this strange stand off could not go on, especially as Entrapta suddenly conjured her recorder from the depths of her hair and began to make journal entries, loudly, about the sword and how ‘fascinating’ it all was, Catra took the initiative and started to cautiously approach the man as she would a wounded animal.  As of yet he seemed more scared than hostile.  She hoped that was the case.</p><p>Palm upraised she took two slow steps forward, feeling Adora behind her ready to intervene if necessary (though she had thankfully not transformed herself yet), and spoke in a voice she knew charmed, “Hey, could you put down the sword big-guy? We just want to figure out how you got here and help you.”</p><p>Like a dam had broken the man dropped his sword to the deck with a resounding clang and crumpled to his knees, body wracked with heaving sobs, arms seeming to reach out for Catra hopelessly.  Glimmer took the opportunity to pop to the sword, grab it and sparkle back to Bow’s side.  Catra turned confused eyes to the rest of the room and received puzzled looks all round.  Deciding to keep moving forward she got to the man’s side and reached out, resting a hand on the shaking shoulder of the balled up figure.  A blinding flash of light consumed the room and when the light receded the hulking figure was gone, replaced by a much smaller one.  A much, much smaller one.</p><p>The little boy threw himself into Catra’s arms and wailed like his heart was broken.  The shrill, piercing cries hurt her sensitive ears, causing them to twitch agitatedly, but she gripped the child back and provided what comfort she could.  On her knees, the little blond head only reached her chin and he had buried his face in the crook between her shoulder and neck, she could feel tears matting into her fur and shuddered to think that there might be snot as well.  But she kept on holding.  Nobody else moved, watching her like she was holding an unexploded bomb, out of the corner of her eye should could just make out Glimmer and Bow having one of their animated eye conversations.</p><p>Realising that the child wasn’t going to stop without help, Catra started to purr low in her chest, remembering how that had always soothed Adora when they were kids.  The sniffling started to lessen bit by bit, and when she began to stroke up his back he nestled further into her, taking big gulps of hiccuping air as he began to calm down.  Soon he was quiet but still buried in her neck.  Not wanting to let go of the boy for fear that it would set him back on his crying jag, Catra scooped up his legs and settled the small weight on her hip, head still touching her, as she gracefully got to her feet and moved over to Adora.  Nodding her head towards Entrapta and the clones, she walked past her partner and out towards the castle followed by Melog, Glimmer and Bow.</p><p>Eyes lingering on the sight of her love cradling a small child until they disappeared out of sight, Adora felt another of those sighs leave her lips before she pulled her eyes away from the open door and strode over to the three people who remained.  Perching a hip on the console nearest to the purple haired woman she waved her hand at the centre of the room and wordlessly waited for an explanation.</p><p>++++</p><p>Glimmer teleported ahead to a small meeting room beside the throne room.  She collected together pillows and cushions in an attempt to make the place feel cosy and as non-threatening as possible.  She also stashed the sword in the armory, safely away until they figured out what was going on.  </p><p>By the time that Bow and Catra made it through the door, Melog in tow, the room smelt like cookies and looked like a pillow fort.  Glimmer noticed that the boy was still huddled into the cat woman, clutching at the fur that covered her shoulders but he wasn’t crying anymore and his body seemed more relaxed.  Catra moved over to the pillows and attempted to lift the boy down onto them.  He released and squeal and clutched tighter at the fur beneath his fingers, eliciting a wince of pain.</p><p>“Hey kid, there’s cookies here and its super comfy.  Why don’t you let go and we can all have some milk and cookies?”  It seemed to be the mention of food that finally drew the little blond head away from her and his legs to go slack as she was finally able to put him on the floor.  Standing beside her he seemed even smaller, barely coming to her waist and when he reached up for her clawed hand to pull her to sit beside him, she noticed how her hand enveloped his.</p><p>The three adults folded themselves down onto the floor while Melog moved to the boys other side so that he was now bracketed by big cats.  His grey-blue eyes finally seemed to notice the creature from Krytis, and grew as round as saucers as he took in the ephemeral main and shifting colours of the giant animal beside him.  Melog let out one of its questioning trills and gently moved to butt at the child with its head.  He finally reached out a tentative hand towards the golem and ran it through the halo of light that surrounds its head like a maze.  When the creature relaxed into his touch the little boy threw himself on top of the animal with a strange familiarity and a tiny giggle.  Each of the adults took a breath of relief.</p><p>“Hi little guy, I’m Bow.  Do you want to tell us who you are?”  Bow spoke in his most soothing voice, gentle and light.</p><p>Wide blue-grey eyes looked at him as the boy bit his lip, he moved his gaze to the woman opposite him.  She gave a little wave, “I’m Glimmer.”</p><p>Finally he looked up at the woman beside him and tugged on her hand, she looked down and he whispered up to her, “why are they being weird Cat?”</p><p>“We’re playing a game,” she found a fondness creeping into her voice, considering he had been a terrifying man mountain less than thirty minutes ago he was a shockingly cute kid, though his words were strange. “Play along.”  Sometimes she wished that she couldn’t still lie like breathing, but sometimes it was helpful.</p><p>“Ok Cat!”  He giggled maniacally.  “My name’s Adam and I’m 5!”  He held up his splayed fingers to illustrate his words as his face split into a wide, gap-toothed smile.</p><p>A pang of something raced through Catra as she looked as his little face, eyes still red but now beaming up at her.  His dimpled cheek and slightly cleft chin more prominent in joy than in sorrow.  His dirty blond hair tousled and standing up poofily on his head.  It couldn’t be?  Could it?  Casting a glance up at her companions, she carefully leaned down to the boy and deliberately breathed him in, taking as much of his scent from the top of his head as she could.  Her eyes went wide as she rocked back on her heels.  Glimmer and Bow shared a questioning look at her actions.</p><p>Catra turned her head to Melog and the two locked eyes as the mystical creature confirmed that she had smelt what she thought she had.  What did this mean?</p><p>+++++</p><p>By the time Adora walked into the room, head pounding from listening to Entrapta’s attempt to explain what had happened (made harder by Hordak’s many, unhelpful, interjections) she wasn’t sure what to expect.  It certainly wasn’t Catra and Melog alone with the boy who was curled up in the former Horde soldier’s lap fast asleep with his feet hanging over her leg.  Nor was it Catra’s hand stroking his back absently as she stared down at his peaceful face.  </p><p>Should she say something?  It seemed wrong to break the tableau before her of quiet serenity.  It almost looked like a snapshot of a family, just missing a piece.  Silently Adora made her way over and sat herself carefully down between the two big cats, careful not to jostle the child when she leaned over to plant a kiss on her girlfriend’s lips.  </p><p>“It’s ok, you can talk - just keep it quiet,” sometimes it was like Catra could read Adora’s thoughts.</p><p>“Entrapta said that they were just running a diagnostic and she was adding some new hardware that I didn’t understand and when she turned around there was a giant man with a sword standing in the middle of the room.  Neither Hordak or Kadroh saw anything else; no flashes of light - just a big guy who turned into this little guy,” her eyes moved down to look at the slumbering face in Catra’s lap.  She couldn’t help but notice how his lashes fanned out onto his round cheeks.</p><p>“They saw nothing?” Catra couldn’t help but feel incredulous.</p><p>“Nothing but Entrapta is working on Darla’s sensors to see what readings she has.  Hopefully when he wakes up he’ll be able to tell us something.”</p><p>“His name’s Adam,”  something about Catra’s tone gave Adora pause and she found herself staring at her face, a clear question on her own.  “He warmed right up to cookies, and cats apparently.  It was like, once he felt safe, he knew us.  He’s 5… He - he smells just like you.”  This last part was delivered almost too low to hear.</p><p>“What do you mean, he smells like me?” She was even more confused than usual.</p><p>“What I said, he smells just like you did when we were this age and,” a sigh tinged with bitterness, “he looks just like you too; your eyes, your smile.”</p><p>Adora reached for the feline and was surprised when she moved away from the hand that had been destined to cup her face.  Adora couldn’t understand any of this.  She didn’t know this child and couldn’t understand why Catra was acting so distant and sad.</p><p>“Catra, we’ve talked about this before.  If you don’t tell me what’s going on up here,” she pointed to her own forehead, “I can’t help.”</p><p>Rolling her mismatched eyes, she took a deep breath and laid out her fear. “I think he’s your son, from the future.  Weirder stuff’s happened to us than that, after all.”  The blond almost burst into a huge smile at the idea that this little boy could be their child, until it registered that Catra had said ‘your’ and not ‘our’.</p><p>“You’re scared that him being here mean’s we wouldn’t be together in the future?”</p><p>“Of course that’s what I’m scared of!  I’m terrified!”  The words burst out in a quiet hiss.  “He ONLY smells like you Adora, there’s no trace of me at all.  And look at him!  He’s cute, but no part of this boy is a cat.”  A tear started to creep down her cheek even as soft snores began to emanate from her lap.</p><p>“Hey!”  Adora forced the other girls chin up to face her.  “I love you and we are going to be together now and in the future.  We don’t know where he came from - maybe he’s me but a boy from a parallel dimension.  Like you said, weirder things have happened.  Why don’t we save being scared until we know more.”</p><p>Seeing the confidence in the soft eyes in front of her Catra allowed herself to let go of her nagging fear.  Decades of being told, over and over, that she wasn’t good enough and that Adora would leave her behind (which she had, even though they had come back together) were sometimes hard to overcome by herself but with Adora beside her she could push them aside.  </p><p>Breaking eye contact she looked down at the source of her consternation; who are you?</p><p>+++++</p><p>Adam seemed to have banished any discomfort or confusion when he wakes up.  Finding himself still in the furry arms of his cat friend, he had decided he was safe.  Apparently safe for a five year old boy meant singing loudly off key, and jumping around in a loose approximation of dancing with brief bouts of questions about everything that popped into his head.  His clumsy exuberance and wide eyed innocence only cemented in Catra’s head that he was some part of Adora; which part was the question.</p><p>The four of them had agreed not to bombard the child with questions, but to wait until he was settled and then try to get details from him in the days that would follow.  With the sword locked away, there seemed to be little chance of him morphing back into the barbarian that they had first encountered.  So the Best Friend Squad were surprised when, settling into the brightly lit dining room, Adam ran over to Adora and pulled on her sleeve.</p><p>“Ra-Ra, I’m bored of this pretending game now.  Can we all be a famly again?”  As he spoke he reached up with his arms wide and on instinct Adora lifted him onto her hip where he could look seriously into her face.</p><p>Adora was reeling from him calling her a clear pet name, seeming to confirm Catra’s suspicion that he was from somewhere in their collective future. She looked into his eyes, so similar to her own and nodded solemnly.  “Ok Adam, we’re going to stop pretending but we need to ask you some questions before we tell you something.  Is that ok?”</p><p>“S’good Ra-Ra, I’m good at remembering and questions, you know that.”  He beamed at her through happy teeth.</p><p>Did she know that?  Ra-Ra wasn’t something you would call your mother, was it?  </p><p>Small hands grasped either side of her face, getting her to refocus from her drifting thoughts, “Can we sit by Cat?”  For a moment it seemed like he was talking about Melog until she realise that he was looking at Catra and smiling.  </p><p>Ra-Ra and Cat?  At first it had seemed like he was calling Catra that because it’s what she was, but Adora was having the dawning realisation that Cat was WHO she was to the little boy.  Both of them were clearly a big part of his life and had special names that he called them.  The blond felt torn between elation that somehow this child was a part of her in the future and terror of what that revelation could mean.</p><p>She took them both over to the large table and placed Adam on a chair beside Catra, which the feline had piled with cushions to make him tall enough.  He leapt down from the blond’s arms and clambered up into the chair, tucking his legs underneath him and resting his elbows on the shiny surface of the table.  He laid his chubby cheek into he palms and comically turned his head to look at Catra.</p><p>“Hey Cat, Ra-Ra said we can stop playing the pretending game now and I can show everybody how good I am at remembering.  Will you ask me some questions?” He batted enviously long, pale eyelashes at her charmingly.</p><p>“Of course I will, but maybe we should eat first.”  His head nodded enthusiastically.</p><p>Meanwhile Adora had taken a moment to update Glimmer and Bow on what Adam had just told her before coming to sit on the Childs other side.  The groups began to eat and the little one dived into the food with gusto.  Bow couldn’t help but comment on how cute he was, which made him beam through a mouthful of food at the man at the table.  They started off by asking him about his favourite colour, food, animal which he answered gleefully.  They asked him about his hobbies and he regaled them with more space information than Entrapta even knew, Bow had thankfully been discretely recording everything on his tracker pad.   </p><p>“So Adam, where did the man with the sword come from?”  Adora leaned over and booped his nose as she asked.</p><p>“You know that Ra-Ra,”  He squirmed in his seat.  “I don’t like the Sword of Power, it makes me feel all wriggly on the inside and the man in my head is real grouchy.  You said I didn’t have to use it till I was a big boy but then I touched it on accident.  I’m sorry I was in Darla.”  For the first time since he got over crying his little face dropped.  At least they knew the name of the sword now to look in Darla’s database.</p><p>“Hey Adam,”  Catra drew his downcast face up with a finger, “You’re not in trouble.”  Her skin crawled at the idea that the child was afraid of them and any repercussions that would come from poor behaviour.  She sure hoped they treated him better than that.</p><p>He gave her a watery smile and crawled into her lap, reaching up to touch her hair, still relatively short from her brush with Prime’s light.  It just reached her collar now.  “How come your hair’s different today?”</p><p>“What should it look like?”  She was curious what he would say.</p><p>The little boy took his hands and ran them up both sides of Catra’s head, it made her feel a little uncomfortable but she was charmed by the little face so close to hers.  “You got no hair here or here and your hair’s all sticky up on the top and down the back.  I like how it feels on the sides.”</p><p>Catra quite liked the idea that she had a mohawk in the future, she imagined that she looked rather badass - like a warrior.  Her new friend seemed to approve too.  Looking over his head as he continues to run his hands through her head, relaxing his body into hers, she caught Adora’s eyes which had gone all soft and gooey at the sight.  The blond mouthed an ‘I love you’ to the feline who smiled merrily back.</p><p>“Adam,” Glimmer broke the moment and the boy turned to face her, “Does the man have a name?”  It was a good question.</p><p>“You know I don’t like talking about He-Man, Aunt Sparkles,”  Catra couldn’t hold in the burst of laughter that  sprang from her lips at hearing the name.  Maybe this kid was hers after all. </p><p>She saw the brewing indignation on Glimmer’s face, Catra raised a querulous eyebrow at her and she bit her tongue, for now.  Catra knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it.  However, for now she could feel the small body pressed against her begin to sag with weariness.  She stood and lifted him along with her, all the other adults standing too.  Holding the small body to her with one arm, she held out her hand to Adora with the other and walked them out of anti-room and towards their own room.  She wasn’t sure when she had made the decision to have Adam sleep in their room with them, but she wanted to keep him close.</p><p>+++++</p><p>Adam’s eyes had lit up when they walked into their bedroom, wriggling down from Catra’s arms and dashing towards the bed, launching himself into the air and landing with a squeal in the centre of their bed.  He got to his knees and started to jump up and down.  It was obviously something he had done before many times.  Adora took the opportunity to wrap herself around Catra and give her a reassuring squeeze as they watched the little boy do something they could only have dreamed of as children.  </p><p>The bouncing began to slow as he flicked his gaze around the room and seemed to find something not quite right.  Gradually he made his way to stand on the edge of the bed, bringing him to almost eye level with the two adults in the room.  He looked deep in thought as he held out both his hands to them.  Each young woman walked closer and took a hand each, waiting for him to talk.</p><p>The boy turned towards Adora and, once they released his hand, took her ponytail and scrutinised it.  Then he studied her face closely before silently turning back to Catra.  He had clearly noticed she did not have the hair he was familiar with but now he ran his fingers across her nose, chin and down her neck; ruffling the fur that covered her skin, clearly searching for something.</p><p>“Oh,” almost a sigh left his lips.</p><p>Both girls realised that the child must have guessed that they weren’t his people.  Adora took the initiative this time and grasp the hand closest to her as she lowered her gaze to meet his.</p><p>“Adam, do you know who we are?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he looked a little sad but not upset.  “You’re not my Cat or Ra-Ra yet.  You’re little yous.”</p><p>Catra let out a snort, mouthing sorry when Adora cast her an admonishing gaze.  It had been such a long time since Catra had felt young, even though she was barely out of her teens, even here in Brightmoon she felt weighed down.  But there was time for morose thoughts later, right now there was somebody else that she had to focus on.</p><p>“You don’t sound surprised little fella,”  Adora winced, she hated how clumsy she could be with words but he smiled at her. “Can you tell us why?”</p><p>“You told me you knew me before you had me, it’s how you knew my name when I was a baby.”  He was so serious, so self assured. </p><p>The itching feeling under Catra’s skin grew more intense, she had to ask; had to know.  “Adam, who are we to you?”</p><p>“You’re my family, silly.”  He giggled and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.</p><p>“How’d you get so resilient?”  Catra was honestly impressed by how much this kid was taking in stride.</p><p>“Ra-Ra says I get it from you.”  Mismatched eyes began to prickle at the words and she blinked rapidly, not wanting to cry in front of him and freak him out.</p><p>“Yeah she is!”  Beamed Adora with pride as she too placed a kiss on her love’s now blushing cheek.</p><p>“Ok, enough mushy stuff.  It’s time for you to go to bed little man and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do about getting you back to where you belong.”  She looked from him to the bed.  “Do you want to sleep in the bed with us or would you like us to get you another room?”</p><p>His young face scrunched in thought for a few moments allowing them to study his features.  Adora was shocked by how right Catra had been, he really did have her face.  His nose wrinkled as he thought and the little scrunched lines formed between his eyebrows, a look she knew her face often held.</p><p>“Can I get a bed in the corner?”  It made sense he didn’t want to share their bed, now he realised that they were essentially strangers, but at least they were a familiar pair of faces.</p><p>Catra left to hunt down a small bed while Adora was left with the job of getting a child ready for bed.  Neither young woman had any experience of young children, barring looking after themselves and each other, but Adora was never one to back down from a challenge.  When Catra left she had asked Adam what his bedtime was like and he had revealed that he took a bath, cleaned his teeth and then had a bedtime story and a song.  It seemed doable.  How hard could bathing a 5 year old be?</p><p>It turned out it could be quite difficult if the flood flowing out of the bathroom door on Catra’s return was anything to go by.  She walked in and directed the two stewards that followed her lugging a small bed to put it in the corner.  She thanked them and her ears twitched as she caught the sound of splashing and giggling coming from the other room.  She set down the shirt that she’d thought to snag from the castle stores and, clutching the toothbrush she’d also liberated, on her way to get help, headed into the bathroom.</p><p>Her bare feet squelched on the puddles of water that covered the floor, assuming that there must be more water there than in the bath at this point.  What she found was a giggling child watching as a soaked Adora cupped water between her hands and squeeze a fountain of water up into the air as he tries to do the same.  Heterochromatic eyes soaked it all in as she leaned against the doorframe.  This was what winning looked like.  This was what family was supposed to be, not children raising each other, huddled in dark corners.  Not cowering away from pain and recreation for the slightest infringement of rules too harsh for people so young.  However this little boy came into their lives (and he was clearly theirs, her fear of losing Adora had lessened somewhat as the boy had spoken about them) she couldn’t wait for this to be real someday.</p><p>For now though, somebody needed to remind the blonds that it was bedtime.</p><p>“Hey Adora,”  she sloshed forward fully into the room, “Hey Adam.”</p><p>“Catra!”  Two voices melded together in happiness to see her.  She felt a pang that the boy was using her name now but joy to know that one day she would be more to him.</p><p>“I think it’s probably time to get out now.”  Both faces looked crestfallen as she set the toothbrush on the vanity and picked up one of the big fluffy towels that appeared fresh each day in the room.  At first that had freaked Catra out, strangers in her private space, it still didn’t sit well with her having been used to self sufficiency her while life, but it was nice to have clean things.</p><p>Striding to the tub, she reached down and pulled the plug, letting out the scant water that remained.  She noticed the goosebumps peppering the ruddy little body and quickly bundled him into a the towel that dwarfed him from neck to toe.  She schooled his bundled body up and say him on the vanity beside the sink and offered him the toothbrush.  A small arm snaked out from the cocoon and took it.  With the boy busy looking after his teeth, Catra turned to Adora who had several towels on the floor to soak up the water.</p><p>“Hey Adora, leave that for now and go put your pyjamas on, you’re soaked.”  She couldn’t help the tenderness in her voice as she looked over the dishevelled woman in front of her.  The blond climbed to her feet with a smile and left into the bedroom.</p><p>“Ok you, time for bed.”  She lifted Adam from the counter and followed him into the main room.  They walked over to the bed that had been brought for him and she helped him into an oversized t-shirt and under the covers.</p><p>A now clean and dry Adora joined them perched on the edge of the small bed, “So you said something about a story and a song?”</p><p>“Story from you and song from Catra please.”</p><p>So that’s what they did, Adora told him a story about she and Swift Wind putting a beacon back together which had the boy giggling merrily even as his eyes grew heavy.  They dimmed the lights and Catra took her turn, singing the child one of the few songs she knew.  Music had been something that had caught her attention in the aftermath of everything and she had discovered she enjoyed singing/. Adora had discovered that she loved to hear her sing.  Adam fell asleep half way through the song but she finished anyway.</p><p>Without thought both young women made their way to the bathroom and finished mopping up the water in companionable silence, throwing the sodden fabric into the bathtub before standing side by side at the sink and cleaning their teeth.  Catra left the room and returned with her sleep wear, efficiently changing until they matched, standing under the bright light of the bathroom.</p><p>Adora pulled Catra to her, arms around her neck as she rested her forehead against the slightly shorter woman’s.  She hummed contentedly when she felt her lovers arms wrap around her waist and pull her almost impossibly closer.  “It’s a lot, huh?”  She whispered, breath tickling across the feline’s face.</p><p>“There’s that gift of understatement,” she chuckled and took any sting from her words.  “No matter how we get that little clone of you out there, we’ll love him.  Look how amazing he is and apparently we did that.”  Her chest swelled with pride.</p><p>A single tear crept down Adora’s face and Catra kissed it away, waiting for Adora to put into words the emotions that she was clearly feeling.</p><p>“Since,” she struggled to find the words and finally settled on, “everything I’ve thought about the future, our future, and kids.  I was scared at that thought.  How could we raise a child when we grew up as we did?  But out there is proof that we can.”  She trailed off, a lump in her throat.</p><p>Catra tenderly kissed her and then led her to bed, flicking off all the lights.  They curled up together, lulled to sleep by the soft snores from the corner.</p><p>+++++++</p><p>It wasn’t really a surprise when he was gone the next morning, Catra knew before she even opened her eyes.  Her chest had felt empty but the pragmatic part of her that had kept her alive this long, reminded her that she would see that sweet little face again before long.  Adora was not known for her pragmatism, sat on the edge of his bed and clutched his pillow to her chest looking forlorn.  </p><p>Catra moved to sit beside her, once she would have teased the taller girl about being so attached to someone that they’s known for less than a day, but now she just wanted to comfort the tender hearted woman.  Before she could though something caught her eye under the bed.  She crouched to pick it up, finding a piece of folded paper with both their names on it.  It must have been dislodged when Adora had scooped up the pillow.</p><p>“Look,”  she held it out to Adora who unfolded it as Catra sat close, thighs touching.</p><p>‘Hey you two,<br/>
Thank you for taking care of Adam.  He’s a cutie, right?<br/>
Don’t worry, we remembered this happening too so he was<br/>
always meant to take a time trip.<br/>
We can’t tell you much more than he did.  You’ll figure it all out<br/>
like we did.  You’re good parents, however unconventional having<br/>
Adam is (Entrapta will figure that one out for you).<br/>
We left the sword, we’ll get it in time.’</p><p>There wasn’t much else on the page save for their scribbled signatures and an addendum at the bottom of the page telling them they should be at a particular set of coordinates on a specific date several years from now.  Both girls committed the information to memory and Adora stood and pinned the note to the wall.</p><p>THREE YEARS LATER</p><p>They stood in the same spot that Hordak had so many years ago, waiting.  When they had told the others about the note, he had known the place.  It was where a portal had opened almost 24 years ago and a melancholy man had found a baby that would change his life.  The anticipation the two felt was almost a living thing between them.</p><p>The air suddenly began to crackle, dimming a small distance away from them as a fissure broke out in the air, it grew larger until it was the size of Adora’s torso and black as pitch.  Just as suddenly they saw something start to fall from the portal, even as it moved to sea back up.  Catra’s lightning reflexes meant she was able to scoop the bundle up before it connected with the floor, and bring him up to her chest.</p><p>The portal was gone, all but forgotten by the small family that stood alone in the field.  Adora stood in front of Catra and the baby, bringing her hand down to stroke his blond hair as unfocused blue eyes turned to her.  “Hello Adam.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>What if Light hope brought both twins through the portal when Adora was a baby but Adam got stuck before the portal closed similarly to Kara in Supergirl, except both are babies?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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